Beauty Queen
by degrassifreak87
Summary: Watching her strut down the hallway, it was as if she had forgotten all about the times we had spent together recently. Or, as if they hadn't happened at all, even though I knew they had. [Paige & JT, please read!]


Author's Note: I always wanted to write a story based on JT and Paige, probably because they're my favorite characters on the show. I think if they ever seriously dated, their relationship would have been really sweet and romantic for some reason. (probably because of how JT reacted to Paige's news about Dean.) And, these lines of Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved" completely describe them.

Now, in the story, it's based around season three -- which means, JT never liked Liberty (or any of the other things that happened later on, including his death) and Paige never dated Matt or Alex.

* * *

**Beauty Queen**

_Beauty queen of only eighteen  
She had some trouble with herself  
He was always there to help her  
She always belonged to someone else_

"I can't believe I failed that test," my best friend complained as he waved around a piece of paper that had a large red 'C-' written on it. It wasn't completely failing, but when you compared it to Toby Isaacs usual grades, which consisted of 'A's' and sometimes the occasional 'B', it was failing. I couldn't care less about his 'C-', though, seeing as though Paige Michalchuk had just turned the corner and took a hold of my thoughts. "Dad and Kate are going to kill me!"

My eyes stayed glued to her, as she giggled with the upperclass popular students, including her long-term boyfriend Spinner Mason. Watching her strut down the hallway, knowing she was the queen bee of the whole entire school, it was as if she had forgotten all about the times we had spent together recently. Or, as if they hadn't happened at all, even though I knew they had.

Ever since Paige confessed to me about what had happened between her and Bardell's super-star athlete, Dean, we had become closer. Not that we were ever really close in the first place, but we had at least become friends since then. I found it kind of sweet how I was the first boy she told what had truly happened that night, even if I sort of forced it out of her. She even told me before she told Spinner.

Passing by, she flashed me a small smile and then contined on her way down the isle. The same type of smile appeared on my own face, as Toby whined to himself over the only bad grade he had ever recieved in his life. Ever since Spinner's adopted little sister, Kendra, dumped him during the summer he had been stressing over every little aspect of his life.

"Whatever, Tobes. I don't really care," I informed him, and then cut across the gaggle of teenagers, away from Toby and over toward my locker. I couldn't take anymore of his crazy test rants, especially when all I wanted to think about was Paige Michalchuk and how gorgeous she looked that day.

Once I reached my locker, I jimmied with the rusted lock and finally pried it open with my bare hands. Just as it widened, all of my random and useless belongings fell to the floor, causing one big mess beneath my feet. Rolling my eyes and shaking my brunette head, I climbed down on my hands and knees and began to gather up everything.

In the middle of collecting my unnecessary possessions off the floor, I heard a hand hit the locker neighboring mine and someone bend down to lend a helping hand. "Hon, you seriously need to get a little organized," the girl of my dreams laughed at me, as she stuffed some papers inside my locker. "And here I thought Spinner's locker was a toxic dump," she laughed even more.

"Oh, thanks Paige," I thanked her, in what seemed like a whisper, as stood back up. Noticing she was still kneeling on the floor, I offered my hand to her. Smiling, she accepted my hand and pulled herself up. "How are you?" I asked her, letting go of her hand just as she stood on her feet. "We haven't really talked lately," I added, my voice fading a bit.

Her smile disappeared and for a second, she reminded me of a lost little girl unsure of anything, particularly herself. That wasn't Paige, though, if anything, she was sure of herself, she had no reason not to be. She was beautiful, intelligent and the sweetest girl alive, when you actually took the time to get to know her. She'd do whatever she could for her friends, and slowly but surely, I was becoming one of those elite people.

"I'm doing okay," she finally answered my simple question, as she dusted her pants off. "I'll tell you what, why don't you join us all for lunch?" The offer was too good to be true. Having lunch with Paige meant I was one step closer to being somebody she'd consider a friend. Maybe not a close friend like Jimmy or Marco, but a friend was better than nothing.

Without even mulling the thought over, I slammed my locker closed and grinned at the five foot two blonde girl in front of me. "I'd love to."


End file.
